Chennai: He is at his best when he plays on clay courts but Spanish world number 10 Nicolas Almagro now aims to do better on other surfaces as well.

The second seed at Chennai Open said competing on hard courts is challenging for him but this is what he want to sort out quickly.

"This season I first want to do well on clay and it's more difficult for me to play on hardcourt. But I’ll try to play my best tennis," he said.

"That's what I am going to do in Chennai and in Auckland (in the upcoming Heineken Open) and in Melbourne," Almagro, who won three titles on clay in 2011 and also reached the fourth round at the Australian Open en route to breaching the top 10 for the first time in his career, said.

"I am going to play a tournament on clay in South America and then I am going to Miami."

Almagro, who paired Pere Riba to upset higher ranked Austro-German duo of Julian Knowles/Michael Kohlmann on Tuesday, said he was happy with his outing."Yesterday it was important to play well as I had just arrived from London and I wanted to play my best. I think Riba and I played really good and we played some very good points." he said.

On the 6-7(4), 6-4 10-4 victory, he said, "I think the key (moment) of the match was the beginning of the super tie-break," referring to the Spanish pair taking a decisive 7-2 lead in the 10 point match-tiebreaker.

"It was my first game of the season and I am happy for (the result).I think I can play better but overall I was veryhappy." (Agencies)